This book is one confusing queer good time. I'm curious to see what the final copy reads like when it comes out and what this sounds like in audiobook form. Thank you Netgalley for the ARC.

**I was provided an electronic ARC from the publisher through NetGalley.**

HE Edgmon presents their newest YA fantasy We Can Never Leave. Marketed as a contemporary fantasy at the intersection of Sweet Tooth and The Raven Boys, readers follow five teens who are residents of the Caravan. The Caravan is a safe haven to non humans, particularly those who wake with no memory of life before. When all the adults of the Caravan disappear and leave the five teenagers behind, it is up to them to find out what is happening and what has happened to them.

I was pre-approved for this title due to my enjoyment of Don't Let the Forest In. I kind of get the correlation? But I think it is a huge disservice to this book to market it as "contemporary fantasy" and not "fantasy horror". Sweet Tooth is fair for vibes, but The Raven Boys not so much. Perhaps the publisher was going for found family, but this is more forced family in the way of a zombie apocalypse book than in the feel-good way. These kids, quite frankly, don't even really like each other that much. Except when they love each other.

Every single person in this story is unlikeable. Every relationship, regardless of type of relationship, is at least a bit toxic. The pace is incredibly slow and circuitous, which makes sense given the nature of the story, but nevertheless does impact the experience. And at least half of your questions are not going to be answered. This novel lives firmly in uncanny valley and is told in five points of view with an intrusive narrator and a fractured timeline.

If all of those things sound like they will work for you, then rock on with this book. Unfortunately, those features, while executed perfectly fine, are simply not things I tend to like.

I am grateful for the opportunity to have read this early. I have enjoyed HE Edgmon's books in the past and look forward to their future works.

I'm not going to lie, this book took me a minute to get into- but WOW was it worth it. That ending! Loved, absolutely loved.
Let me start with the more superfluous things- I personally enjoy short chapters with rotating POVs. This entire book is that, with the longest chapter maybe being 15 minutes long. Personally, I think this makes the book go by quicker and provides more options for me to get attached to some of the characters. There are moments when the reader is addressed directly, regardless of who the chapter POV is in. Not my favorite aspect, but I do appreciate that it is unique and did not negatively impact the plot in my opinion.

Now, for the meat of this (spoiler free) is that you are truly dropped into this story at what almost seems a cliffhanger. You are thrust into this tight-knit environment with characters that you do not know nor care for yet. This is what essentially made me a little distant in the beginning. Although I did not dislike any character, I was not rooting for any either. What I overlooked, however, was the amount of foreshadowing there is! The plot points that seem fluffy infact are NOT and the ending had me floored! I would say very much worth the read, and I likely will reread to see what I missed!
What I viewed as loose plot, one example being the mostly undetermined magic system, is actually on purpose. We are just as confused as our main characters, because they also are looking for the answers alongside the reader.

I'm having a hard time deciding how to rate this. I'll leave it at a three for now. I don't do well with multiple POV books unless the plot flows well. Terry J Benton-Walker does multiple POVs well. This .. is a bit lackluster. And a bit confusing. I think there were 3 separate timelines; the past, the present, and the past of the day everyone went missing. With five POVs, it's really hard to tell sometimes, what's going on. The description is really beautiful in some parts, but really hard to parse in others. In some places it just feels like the author threw in flowery language just to sound smarter.

I'm also not fond of 4th wall breaks from the narrator too. I can read, and I have reading comprehension, but it's almost like the author either thought the readers were stupid and wouldn't be able to tell what was going on, or knew the book was so confusing with all the POVs that it was deemed necessary to add in those wall breaks.

In the end, the plot twist was... interesting. Hugo's plot twist I actually saw coming, because, as I said, I have reading comprehension (that irks me a little that the author felt the plot needed to be spelled out). I think maybe if I go back and read this again, it will make better sense.

There are clearly themes here that were lost in the thickness of the prose, and it's unclear as to the ending if the two characters were always that way (not spoiling but anyone who's read it will understand) or if that's just what became of them. It kind of felt like a "we're going to sacrifice ourselves, but actually we've been gone this whole time and you've been unaware of what happened to us" type of moment, and the whole group felt oddly cult like in a cannibalistic way, that sort of makes me feel like they were eaten, too. Like that where they were was a metaphor for limbo, and they chose not to stay behind and accept death. Like i said, if I go back and read it again someday, I may understand it better. But right now, I'm a bit confused and a little ticked off, but overall, it's not awful.

Thank you to the publisher for the free ARC!!

This story had some moments of strong emotional depth and the premise was intriguing overall. However, the pacing was a little off for me and felt uneven and a few of the character dynamics didn't really click. I appreciated the outline and the overall structure of the characters and their relationships, and although this wasn't necessarily the story for me its a unique read that others might enjoy more than I did.

3.5 ⭐️ What a story. I finished We Can Never Leave a few days ago and really had to sit on it before I could give a solid review. I started this one with an open mind and without expectations and yet it was exactly what I was expecting (in a good way). I'm a big fan of something a little odd, sometimes confusing, and leaves you guessing until the end. Every twist was perfectly timed, added depth to the story, and left me staring openmouthed at my kindle for a bit after.

While I really enjoyed the general plot of the story, I found myself confused more often than I would like and a little annoyed with the characters at times. They are well rounded, well written as a whole but unlikable which fits for the story. I also didn't always jive with the writing. It was multiple POVs but only one broke the fourth wall by speaking to the reader. While I understand why now, it felt jarring to suddenly have that incorporated a good chunk into the story.

All in all, I still enjoyed the story. It may not be the first I would recommend but I think fantasy readers who are okay being a little lost along the way to the ending would still enjoy it!

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for the arc!

Thank you to NetGalley for the copy.

I’ve enjoyed all of what Edgmon’s has written that I have read so far. So I was excited to read this one. In terms of what it did right? It hit the notes on being engaging and having really good well rounded characters. The bouncing back and forth of perspectives and the downright unlikeable personalities of some of the character was a sour note but overall, still a good read

"Sweet Tooth meets The Raven Boys in this queer young adult contemporary fantasy about what it means to belong from H.E. Edgmon.

You can never go home...

Every day, all across the world, inhuman creatures are waking up with no memory of who they are or where they came from - and the Caravan exists to help them. The traveling community is made up of these very creatures and their families who've acclimated to this new existence by finding refuge in each other. That is, until the morning five teenage travelers wake to find their community has disappeared overnight.

Those left: a half-human who only just ran back to the Caravan with their tail between their legs, two brothers - one who can't seem to stay out of trouble and the other who's never been brave enough to get in it, a venomous girl with blood on her hands and a heart of gold, and the Caravan's newest addition, a disquieting shadow in the shape of a boy. They'll have to work together to figure out what happened the night of the disappearance, but each one of the forsaken five is white-knuckling their own secrets. And with each truth forced to light, it becomes clear this isn't really about what happened to their people - it's about what happened to them."

But keep in mind, what happened to their people could be what's about to happen to them...

The book follows five half humans as they navigate trying to figure out what happened to the world around them. It was multiple pov, which got confusing at times because there were so many characters. In addition, the plot felt very complicated and got in the way of the character development at times. I thought the writing style was good though.

I unfortunatly had trouble getting into this story and staying in. I was confused and bored at the same time. I had issues with the amount of information that was given and how it related to the story and then how it really didn't belong. I was also not very interested in the characters, nor their motivations or actions. I don't think this story was right for me as an audience. It might work for others, but not for me.

Thank you to H.E. Edgmon, Wednesday Books, and Netgalley for letting me read an ARC of <i>We Can Never Leave</i>. I was pre-approved for a copy because I immensely enjoyed [book:Don't Let the Forest In|200982373]. Unfortunately, I got about 34% of the way into this book and decided to not finish it, but I will do my best to provide feedback.

<i>We Can Never Leave</i> has a colorful cast of characters and an intriguing premise. When the adults and main community members of a group disappear, it's only natural for the teens to hop into the RV, bicker with each other, and try to find them. However, the pacing of the plot didn't quite hook me in, and even though I know that it would be a long drive to get where they're going, the flashbacks interspersed between didn't reveal new things to me about all the different characters. If I'm traveling somewhere, I want to travel. Let me get to know the characters along the way rather than pause to explain, as it were.

I was also a little confused at the nonbinary gender representation for Bird. Between chapters 7 and 8, during a Before section, it stars with the following passage:

<blockquote>"Where do you think we come from?” The little girl who would grow up to be Bird asked, lying on their belly beneath the gnarled limbs of an ancient live oak tree in a field somewhere in rural Texas.</blockquote>

Did Bird identify as a girl in the past? Is the narrator saying that Bird is actually a girl but that they're nonbinary now so that they can be trendy? Is Bird nonbinary in that they are genderfluid, shifting from boy to girl to something else?

To be clear, these are all perfectly acceptable ways to express one's gender. What's concerning is that by describing a definitively nonbinary character as "a little girl who would grow up to be" a nonbinary person is that it invites readers to mistakenly see that person as just another girl who wants to use they/them pronouns. A bit more clarification on Bird's gender identity would have helped here, and I think readers will be genuinely interested in how they feel about who they are. Even so, with something like this, you have to walk that line carefully because so many people and readers still don't understand that gender and gender expressions are unique to the individual.

Although this one wasn't for me, I look forward to reading H.E. Edgmon's other works in the future.

the beginning of this book provides the reader with an interesting mystery, and the rest of the book promptly goes on a wild goose chase to solve it. by that i mean: no one does anything to push the plot forward until the last third, and by then it ends so abruptly you’d think pages were ripped out. if this had been a novella or a short story, this might have been an effective gut punch of an ending — as it stands, for a novel, particularly a novel for children, it’s just kind of “meh”

Unfortunately, I really didn't like anything about this. The writing style just didn't work for me. The story was very boring. I'm still not sure what the point of the book was. It just felt like we got a glimpse in the lives of random creatures when not much happened. The book was multiple POV and duel timeline and the author broke the third wall on multiple occasions. The book was just bouncing everywhere and going nowhere.

I'm disappointed with how much I disliked it. Dual timeline is one of my favorite things in books, and even that did nothing for me here. This was not the book for me.

I feel like this book took risks and feels different from other YA, with lots of earnest and important themes, but I’m not sure it was totally successful.

Five teens (Bird, Hugo, Felix, Cal, and Eamon) live in the Caravan, a community made up of folks who aren’t completely human and possess magic powers or non-human features. One morning, the five wake up to realize everyone else in the Caravan disappeared. They set off on a trip to figure out what happened, and unravel the secrets they’re keeping from each other and about what’s happened to the Caravan.

It starts with an author’s note that explains the idea behind the story and gives some context, which is helpful because the beginning doesn’t explain much at all, so it took me awhile to get grounded and understand what’s happening. There’s not really a lot of plot, as the characters are basically roadtripping for like 20%, 35% is backstory, 40% is a lot of monologuing, and 5% is upper case repetition. It’s slow, and more about uncovering why the characters are the way they are now. There’s not really much development either, and the book itself is aware the characters aren’t the most likable. It doesn’t focus too much on the powers or magic, and feels like a character study on what happens to teens who are raised in an isolated/unsafe environment but have nowhere else they can go or belong.

The writing is quite good, though there were some parts here and there that I had trouble parsing but I’m not sure if those were errors or intentional. There was queer rep and maybe neurodivergent rep as well, but I was a little confused on how these teens raised in isolation don’t know what gravity is but do know what ableism sounds like; it just felt a bit consistent on what the characters do and don’t know in the wider society. And while the author’s note was helpful in setting up context, I don’t think a story should need it for it to make sense, so I do wish the Caravan was more established before the conflict began. And for Felix’s chapters, the narrator/author’s voice came in to address readers directly, but I’m not sure that was very successful. It’s like the ultimate telling not showing, and it told me things that I didn’t pick up from the story itself, which was a bit annoying. Like the story wasn’t carrying its weight.

I can see this book not appealing to everyone, and while I feel like it was pretty unique within YA contemporary fantasy, I don’t think it was entirely successful with the risks it took. I can see plenty of people relating with the themes here, though, like queer teens who don’t feel like they belong wherever they live and wonder if they’ll always be stuck.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for the eARC in exchange for an honest review!

We can never leave by H.E. Edgmon is a queer YA fantasy about what it means to belong.

The story follows 5 teenage travelers who wake to find their community has disappeared overnight. They will have to work together to figure out what happened as each of them are trying to deal with their own secrets. With each truth revealed it's becoming clearer to the group it's not about what happened to their community but what happened to them.

I am not a huge fantasy reader but was able to see past all the half human-ness of some characters for the underlying story. I did find it disjointed when the author paused to speak to the reader in random parts throughout the book. I think that would make more sense in a movie versus a book.

Thank you to H.E. Edgmon for working with NetGalley. I received an advanced reader copy of this book in exchange for my honest opinion and review.

You can find this book in the bookstores June 10th.

The multi-POVs was a bit disorienting to follow, and I was left confused more often than not. I think there's a lot of potential laid down here, though, and the story itself is both haunting and evocative.

I tried really hard to follow this book but I just found myself getting constantly confused with the switching perspectives between five different characters. It was just way too much back and forth and I could never keep anything straight.

Which is kind of disappointing because parts of this book that I was following were really good and very interesting. I loved the concept of this book and It seems like there was really storytelling in the world and environment you were in. It's just the characters constant pov change was really throwing me off.

Thank you so much to the publisher for reaching out and allowing me to read this book.

Bird belongs to the Caravan, which exists to take care of creatures that are part human, part animal. Bird was born into the Caravan, and has grown up in the community with their mother and grandparents. One morning following one of the community's moon festivals, five teenagers wake to find that everyone else is missing. Now Bird, Hugo, Felix, Eamon, and Cal must travel to the next Caravan community and try to find out why everyone has disappeared overnight. They all have their own secrets and along the way they start to discover dark secrets that have been kept by the very community that is supposed to protect them.

When I saw that We Can Never Leave was compared to Sweet Tooth, I was all-in, because it is one of my favorite series! The book definitely has a similar vibe to the series, introducing characters who have varying half human/half animal attributes. I really loved the mystery surrounding the emergence of half humans/half animals and the questions of how they can into being. I think I would have enjoyed the story even more, if the "sci-fi" aspect would have been explored and fleshed out more, instead of so much time spent on the characters relationships. I was really invested in the questions behind their existence and the secrets being kept by the cult-like members of the Caravan. I didn't mind the relationship aspects to the story, but it would have worked better for me, if equal or more of the story followed the sci-fi arc.

The writing was beautiful, and I loved the imagery that Edgmon created. There's a great sense of mystery as the five characters travel to find answers, and the varying POVs kept the story interesting. I also loved that Edgmon had some fourth wall breaks, that brought humor to the story, as well as insight into one of the characters. The book reads as young adult fiction, but there were some small moments of horror in the story, that really elevated the storytelling, for me.

We Can Never Leave is a captivating story of fantasy and science fiction, that follows complicated characters, dangerous secrets, messy family relationships, past traumas, and struggles with identity and seeking to find your place.

This is a gritty YA horror-fantasy, steeped in our world, with moments of shocking joy interspersed throughout. The character building is breathtaking --and more often than not a gut-punch--and I loved the numerous POV switches. It's not an easy books, but it's a massively rewarding one.

I will be honest, I did not know what to think of this book when I first finished it. Don't get me wrong, it was beautifully written and compelling. But I just wasn't sure it was for me.

We Can Never Leave is about a Caravan of people who are not quite human. They have magic, or don't look totally human. They travel around and collect children like themselves who seem to forget where they came from. That is until one morning all the adults seem to have disappeared leaving the teens to figure out what to do next.

Right off the go I was intrigued by this ground of weird, queer oddballs. All the characters are so flawed, even the book narrator agrees that there's really not an obvious choice of who to root for in this story. The author gives you glimpses of their pasts and personalities, just enough to see there is a lot of trauma here but never a clear picture.

As the group discovers more about themselves and the situation they're in things begin to unravel until a lot of little things really begin to make sense and come together around the end of the story.

This book is not a fluffy queer adventure. It is quite dark. The author pulls not only from the trauma of not fitting in as a queer person but also of being raised in a religious cult that you can't seem to escape from.

I am still thinking about book. I initially gave it 3 stars but upon thinking I'm going with 4 stars. This is a story that will stick with you and was beautifully written. Highly recommend if you're looking for something a little bit different.

Thank you NetGalley and St Martin's Press for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.